Yes you all know I love something sweet. I am constantly trying to tweak my favorite recipes to make them sweet and healthy!!! Today was no different. In fact in an effort to cut out excess eating I have avoided playing in the kitchen ..(GASP... I KNOW). Today I decided that a "healthy" coconut cream pie was in order. While the kids so "diligently" took their timed tests, I scurried out to the kitchen to begin a new level of experimentation. Preheated the oven....Grabbed my "go to" pie crust recipe (its FAST), opened the flour tin....UMMM who used the flour last because THERE IS NONE! Check the time.... 25 minutes till the next test, yep trusty Harris Teeter here I come. So yes I dash into the store grabbed the flour, trying not to be distracted by the "sales" .
Finally I am home, multi tasking at getting dinner and whipping up the pie crusts (well technically rolling out ). WOW this pastry crust looks so dark??? Well it turns out a grocery store faux pas ends up as an unexpected success!. Yes I had accidentally picked up White Whole Wheat flour....sigh. Except for one crust got a little "darker" than planned (I can put chocolate in that, no one will ever KNOW), They were good and Whole grain! (No pics though because, well honestly, they weren't pretty this time...due to my hurried (harried) state...LOL.
My go to Recipe is as follows (my Mom's No Fail Pie Crust Recipe)
2 1/2 cups Flour
dash of salt
2/3 cup Vegetable oil
Using a fork, mix the above ingredients until "crumbly". Add 1/4 to 1/3 c. ICE COLD water...stir quickly till it forms a marbelized looking ball, STOP STIRRING. Divide in two . Roll out each ball between wax paper or parchment. Lay into pie plate and crimp edges. This recipe makes 2 crusts.... so you either can do 2 individual filled pies or 1 covered pie. Now if you want to Bake for a filled pie...Bake at 475 for 8-10 minutes (not 12 like I did..hahahaha)
Now my quest for healthiness was this, Coconut cream pie made with coconut milk and Xylitol (thus reducing fat and sugar). I found a great recipe on the Food Network...Emeril's Best Ever Coconut Cream Pie. (google it) Now the tweaking. I must say the last time I attempted a recipe with corn starch in the recipe well it could NOT even be called pudding...hahahaha, but ever determined to never give up I was going to try again. Now from past events I KNOW you cannot totally leave out all the milk, because milk solids have something to do with how the pie sets up. So thanks to the already adjusted recipe ...I didn't have to tweak it to much . Using mostly Xylitol with a small amount of sugar, because alas the Xylitol was almost empty too!! (who's been baking in my kitchen????)...Following all the directions...into the pie crust the filling goes...yummmy (Fresh ground coconut from my extract experimenting and vanilla with extra beans soaking in it...added to the delicious flavor! Chill two hours...slice and ...yep you guessed it, Runny!!! But I must say it was definitely waaaaay less runny than the raspberry pie last year, in fact I would call this pudding with a crust! YAY There is only one person I know that may not enjoy the flavor and that is only because he does not like coconut cream pie.
Now I did have another crust to fill, this was an easy breezy cheater recipe.... I didn't try to "healthify" it ...hahahahaha. One large cook and stir chocolate pudding following directions for microwave cooking (GASP...yes I use a microwave..hahahaha) of course to make it homemade tasting one Tablespoon of butter (everything is better with BUTTER) and 2 squares of Ghiradelli 72percent dark chocolate....when finished cooking stir in a teaspoon (okay I didn't measure) of highly edified vanilla...hahahhahahah. Chill 2 hours.
Both pies were a nice treat...now back to boycotting baking for a while again.
Always on a quest for healthy AND tasty. ( I am determined that these two be friends)
EmBee
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